New York Art's Asia Week Set for Big Sales

New York art dealers might need to pull out marker pens and add zeros to their price tags during Asia Week sales starting this week in auction houses and galleries across the city.

Once a backwater of the international market, Asian art -- particularly Chinese -- has boomed in popularity.

Asia Week, which opened Friday and runs through March 24, will see leading rivals Sotheby's and Christie's, as well as smaller houses and individual galleries, focusing on everything from bold contemporary Indian paintings to classical Chinese ceramics.

"Our last five years we've seen an astonishing boom, a push into a new price level," Henry Howard-Sneyd, vice chairman for Asian art at Sotheby's, told AFP.

He pointed out that in 2011 the highest grossing artists at auction in the world were not the long-predictable top dogs Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, but Zhang Daqian, with nearly $507 million in sales, and Qi Bashi, with $445 million -- far ahead of their Western rivals.

That two Chinese painters barely known to the Western public should outperform artists synonymous with modern art does not surprise Sotheby's, which in this year's Asia Week is for the first time dedicating a distinct sale to classical Chinese works.

Among those works is a Qi Bashi painting of an eagle, somewhat similar to another of his paintings that last year sold for $65.5 million -- the most expensive painting at any auction in 2011.

The version offered by Sotheby's has an estimate of a modest $1.2-1.5 million. But Howard-Sneyd doesn't think estimates will survive once the red hot Chinese collectors take their seats.

Gesturing at galleries filled with Chinese ceramics, paintings, fans, and furniture, he said: "I think there'll be fireworks."

The head of Asian art at Christie's, Hugo Weihe, also has strong hopes for Asia Week.

Last year, sales of Asian art at Christie's saw a double-digit percent increase and are now the second place category behind overall contemporary art, but ahead of impressionist and modern.

Weihe pointed to wealthy, patriotic Chinese looking to their pre-revolutionary past for the ultimate status symbol.

"Chinese buyers are very interested in their heritage -- anything that has imperial marks. You've truly arrived in China if you can have something that belonged to an emperor," Weihe said.

Better known, but entirely different, is the Indian art market.

India has produced a string of top-notch modern and contemporary artists like Subodh Gupta, whose works are still considered relatively cheap.

"Indian art is underpriced, particularly contemporary," Weihe said. But that market will change as increasingly well educated Indian collectors think beyond simply decorating their living rooms and instead start building great national museums and collections.

"It's going to be private individuals and enterprises, rather like it was in America 100 years ago," Weihe said.

And the next artistic goldmine in Asia?

Pakistan is only just beginning to stir, says Deepanjana Klein, at Christie's.

"In Southeast Asia it's not yet that cool to be an artist, in Pakistan especially. In India, it's taken off, but in Pakistan it's still in its nascent phase," she said.

Then there's Bangladesh. The country "is having its first international art show next month, which is a huge step," Klein said.

Ironically, many of the available classical Asian works have long been in the hands of elite, private collectors in the West, such as the recently deceased Doris Weiner.

Sale of Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art Announced by Sotheby's New York

Sotheby's sale of Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art on 25 March 2011 will be led by one

of the most important paintings by a modern Indian painter ever to have appeared on the

market - Akbar Padamsee's Untitled (Reclining Nude) which carries an auction estimate of

$500/700,000. It was acquired by the current owners from the artist over 50 years ago and has

never before appeared at auction. Sotheby's presented the painting to collectors at the

recent Indian Art Summit in New Delhi- the first time it had been returned to India since

1960. In addition to the Padamsee the masters of modern Indian painting are well represented

in the auction, with major works by MF Husain, SH Raza, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna and Jagdish

Swaminathan among others.

Further highlights of the sale include a group of Bengal School paintings by Rabindranath,

Abanindranath, Gaganendranath Tagore and Jamini Roy centered by Rabindranath Tagore's famous

Death Scene which was once in the collection of Mildred and William Archer (est.

$200/250,000). Two other important paintings in this group are a rendition of Rabindranath

lying in state by Abanindranath Tagore, a very rare portrayal of this scene; and a portrait

of Mahatma Gandhi by artist Jamini Roy executed in his early, Impressioniststyle brush. There

are also significant contemporary works by artists such as Ravinder Reddy, Subodh Gupta, T.

V. Santhosh, Reena Kallat and Bharti Kher among others.

Modern Indian Paintings
Prakriti by SH Raza from the year 2000 is a meditation on the sublime beauty and force of

Nature (est. $500/700,000). The striking and large canvas is made up of 25 squares which form

a matrix of interrelating abstract and geometric elements. The painting includes a myriad of

symbols including the kundalini, the tree of life, and the bindu or seed of life, which

nestles at the centre. These symbols are balanced by the colors of the five elements –

earth, water, air, space and fire.

A number of major paintings by MF Husain are included in the sale. They are led by an

Untitled, oil on canvas which has been in the same private Italian collection for over 50

years (est. $500/700,000). Further highlights include the 1968 painting Untitled (Minotaur)

which comes from the Fritz and Margrit Bohnert Collection (est. $300/500,000). Mr. Fritz

Bohnert was in the Swiss Foreign Service and was 1st Secretary in New Delhi from 1966 –

1972, it was during this time that he acquired this painting. Minotaur, the half man, half

beast Greek mythological figure, is depicted in a canvas full of cultural reference points

and mythic symbols. Further works by MF Husian include Cobalt Horse from the 1970s (est.

$180/220,000) and That Obscure Object of Desire from the late 1980s (est. $120/180,000).

The End by Krishen Khanna from the early 1970s comes from the intensely personal The Dead and

the Dying series (est. $200/250,000). The series was the artist's response to the political

turmoil that had gripped many parts of South America and South Asia in the previous decade.

This period had been marked by a mixture of anguish, bravery, torment, anxiety and

disappointment; sentiments which are reflected in this melancholy depiction of a faceless

man.

Contemporary Indian Art
Untitled (Head) from 2007 is an exceptionally large and colorful sculpture by Ravinder Reddy

(est. $150/200,000). The work is a superb example of the artist's iconic monumental head

sculptures, the vivid coloring of which are inspired by the rich tradition of Indian

miniature painting. The gargantuan face of the woman, with painted red lips, kohl-rimmed eyes

and flower-strewn hair projects a raw, magnetic appeal, transfixing and drawing the gaze of

the viewer, while her open and dispassionate gaze creates an impersonal space around her.

Further contemporary highlights include T. V. Santhosh's Tracing An Ancient Error which

incorporates the artist's signature technique of solarizing photographic imagery to create

works which are suggestive of x-rays or film negatives (est. $100/150,000). In the

photographic quality of the painting, the viewer is placed at the center of the action as if

they are looking through the lens of a journalist's camera.

Art from Pakistan
The sale also includes a selection of works by senior Pakistani artists such as A. R.

Chughtai and Ismail Gulgee as well as new introductions by contemporary artists working in a

range of diverse media such as Mohammad Ali Talpur, Ali Kazim, Faiza Butt and Aisha Khalid.

Among the important pieces in the sale is an Untitled work by Ismail Gulgee which is being

sold by the Consul-General of Pakistan in Boston (est. $60/80,000). The work, which was

acquired directly from the artist in the 1960s, is an excellent example of Gulgee's vivid

abstract oil and gold leaf style.    

Cruise Internet to evaluate art's worth

One of the common questions I receive as a gallery owner is, 'How much is this painting

worth?'

Lots of people have bought paintings or received them from family members and feel that

they own something of great value and want to cash in. We hear stories of lost

paintings found in attics going to auctions and bringing in millions of dollars. It's a

nice dream but you have a better chance at winning the 649 than finding a lost Picasso.
So how do you find out what Great Aunt Matilda's painting is worth?

One of the ways to get an accurate value of a painting is to take it to an appraiser

like Lindland & Associates in Calgary where they will give you a professional appraisal

of the work for around $500. If you're unwilling to go through that hassle, the

Internet is your best resource.

The first thing I do is Google the name of the artist under 'images' and see what comes

up. If a number of the artist's paintings pop up on the screen right away, you're in

luck.
From there it's just a matter of following the links to the artist's art dealers and

finding a painting of similar quality that is for sale. Bingo! You have found the

painting's approximate market value.
Another way to asses the worth of a painting is to look up the artist on the web and

see if you can find out anything about the artist's history.

The worth of a painting doesn't always have to do with the artist's artistic merit,

more often than not it has to do with branding. That means, did the artist receive

professional training and where? Have they had any big shows like at the Vancouver Art

Gallery? Does Arnold Schwarzenegger own one of their pieces? Does the artist have any

art dealers? Or did the artist recently die in a plane crash? All of these things can

really push up the value of a painting.

If your search on the web turns up nothing then the dollar value of the paintings is

worth whatever it sells for. Generally, I discourage people from selling off their

family heirlooms, instead sharing the artwork with a close friend or another family

member is a much better way to go if you absolutely must let go of the piece. Often

museums will take and care for donations of artwork because their historical

importance.

I personally feel the value of a painting goes much further than it's monetary worth. I

have many paintings in my home that are not my own and I absolutely love them. My art

collection started when I was around 17 and I came home to visit my parents while they

were getting ready for one of their many garage sales. I rescued two oil paintings out

of the garbage done by my Great, Great Uncle Peter dated 1912. I still have the

paintings today, and while they're not really worth anything, to me they are priceless!
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Artist Karla Pearce returns to the Times with her column, the Creative Edge. The

Creative Edge will run on the second and fourth Monday of each month.